The System Development Life Cycle

1. The System Development Life Cycle
What is an information system (IS)?
Hardware, software, data,
people, and procedures that
work together to produce
quality information
System—Set of components
that interact to achieve
common goal
Businesses use many types of
systems

2. The System Development Life Cycle
What are the phases of the system development cycle?
Phase 1. Planning
Phase 2. Analysis
Phase 3. Design
Phase 4. Implementation
Phase 5. Support
 Review project requests
 Prioritize project
requests
 Allocate resources
 Identify project
development team
 Conduct preliminary investigation
 Perform detailed analysis activities:
Study current system
Determine user requirements
Recommend solution
 Acquire hardware
and software, if
necessary
 Develop details of
system
 Develop programs, if necessary
 Install and test new system
 Train users
 Convert to new system
 Conduct post-implementation
system review
 Identify errors and enhancements
 Monitor system performance

3. The System Development Life Cycle
What are guidelines for system development?
Involve users (anyone for whom
system is being built)
Develop clearly defined standards (procedures
company expects employees to follow)
Arrange tasks into phases

4. The System Development Life Cycle
Who participates
in the system
development life
cycle?

5. The System Development Life Cycle
What is a systems analyst?
Responsible for designing
and developing
information system
Liaison between users
and IT professionals

6. The System Development Life Cycle
What is the project team?
Consists of users, systems analyst, and other IT professionals
Formed to work on project from beginning to end
Project leader—one member of the team who
manages and controls project budget and schedule

7. The System Development Life Cycle
What is feasibility?
Measure of
how suitable
system
development
will be to the
company
Operational
feasibility
Schedule
feasibility
Four feasibility
tests:
Technical
feasibility
Economic
feasibility
(also called
cost/benefit
feasibility)

8. The System Development Life Cycle
What is documentation?
Includes reports, diagrams,
programs, and other deliverables
Collection and summarization
of data and information

9. The System Development Life Cycle
What are six data and information gathering techniques?
 Review documentation
 Observe
 Questionnaire
 Interview
 Joint-application
design (JAD) session
 Research

10. The System Development Life Cycle
What are some reasons to create or modify an
information system?
Competition can
lead to change
To improve
existing system
Outside group may
mandate change
To correct problem
in existing system

11. The System Development Life Cycle
What is a request for system services?
 Formal request for
new or modified
information system
 Also called
project request

12. The System Development Life Cycle
What is the planning phase?
Begins when steering committee receives project request
Steering
committee—
decision-making
body for the
company
Function of committee:
Review and
approve project
requests
Allocate
resources
Form project
development
team for each
approved
project
Prioritize
project requests

13. The System Development Life Cycle
What is the analysis phase?
Conduct preliminary
investigation, also
called feasibility
study
Perform detailed
analysis

14. The System Development Life Cycle
What is the preliminary investigation?
 Determine exact nature of problem or improvement
and whether it is worth pursuing
 Findings are presented in feasibility report, also known as a feasibility study

15. The System Development Life Cycle
What is detailed analysis?
Sometimes called logical design
2. Determine user’s wants, needs,
and requirements
3. Recommend solution
1. Study how current system
works

16. Presented to
steering
committee,
which decides
how system will
be developed
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the
system proposal? Assesses
feasibility
of each
alternative
solution
Recommends
the most
feasible
solution for
the project

17. The System Development Life Cycle
What are possible solutions?
Buy packaged software—prewritten
software available for purchase
Outsource—have outside source
develop software
Write own custom software—software
developed at user’s request
Vertical market
software—designed
for particular industry
Horizontal market
software—meets
needs of many
companies

18. The System Development Life Cycle
What is the design phase?
Acquire hardware and software
Develop all details of new or
modified information system

19. Visit vendors’ stores
The System Development Life Cycle
What is needed to acquire new hardware and software?
 Identify all hardware and software requirements of new or
modified system
Surf Web
Read print and online
trade journals,
newspapers, and
magazines
Talk with other
systems analysts

20. The System Development Life Cycle
What are three basic documents used to summarize
technical specifications?
Less formal method
that uses standard
form to request
information about
product or service
Vendor quotes
price(s) for
listed
product(s)
Vendor selects
product(s) that
meet(s) your
requirements and
then quotes
price(s)
Identifies
product(s)
you want
Request for information (RFI)
Request for proposal (RFP)
Request for quotation (RFQ)

21. The System Development Life Cycle
How do systems analysts test software products?
 References from vendor
 Talk to current users of product
 Product demonstrations
 Trial version of software
 Benchmark test measures performance

22. The System Development Life Cycle
What is a detailed design?
Includes several activities
Database
design
Input and
output design
Program
design
Detailed design specifications for components in proposed solution

23. The System Development Life Cycle
What is a mockup?
 Sample of input or output that contains actual data

24. The System Development Life Cycle
What is a prototype?
Working model of
proposed system
Beginning a prototype
too early may lead to
problems

25. The System Development Life Cycle
What is computer-aided software engineering (CASE)?
 Software tools designed to support activities of system
development cycle

26. Convert to new system
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the implementation phase?
 Purpose is to construct, or build, new or modified
system and then deliver it to users
Train users
Install and test new system
Develop programs

27. The System Development Life Cycle
What are the three types of tests performed by system
developers?
Verifies application
works with other
applications
Systems test
Integration Test
Unit Test
Verifies each
individual program
works by itself
Verifies all programs
in application work
together

28. The System Development Life Cycle
What is training?
 Showing users exactly
how they will use new
hardware and software
in system

29. The System Development Life Cycle
What is the support phase?
Conduct post-implementation system review—meeting to find out if
information system is performing according to expectations
Identify errors
Identify enhancements
Monitor system performance
 Provides ongoing assistance after system is implemented